Clean Energy Spotlight: Joe Reed
Aloha! This week's #cleanenergyspotlight is an Army veteran based in Kihei, Hawaii. His team works to make climate financing and project planning work better for the smaller countries who really need the job-creating, money-saving, pollution-cutting power of clean energy.
Meet Mana Pacific CEO Joe Reed, one of our #FacesofCleanEnergy.
A graduate of West Point, Joe served as a U.S. Army officer and lieutenant colonel. Today, he leads Mana Pacific, an impact benefit corporation that “develops, finances, and de-risks scalable island resiliency projects in Hawaii and the 22 Pacific Island Territories and Countries.” Mana Pacific pools the bargaining and financing power of smaller countries and communities so that they get a better deal to switch their economies to clean energy. “When we’ve got that large scale market demand, we can force the prices down,” Joe said to the Honolulu Civil Beat. “That investment capital is going to not require as high of a return on the investment, because the risk of the project is also driven down by the economies of scale.”
Prior to joining Mana Pacific, Joe served as the Managing Director of Corporate Development at Recurrent Energy, a leading solar project developer that maintains one of the largest solar development portfolios in North America.
For Joe, clean energy is about jobs. Mana Pacific actively recruits local workers and offers workforce development training, all while delivering cost-cutting clean energy solutions. “Clean energy job growth provides adequate job capacity for all growing populations,” he said.
And inspired by his time in uniform, no doubt, clean energy is about security too. “Such energy independence on a global basis will contribute to less global conflict over fossil fuel resources,” he told CE4AEF’s Faces of Clean Energy program.
Congratulations, Joe, for being this week’s #cleanenergyspotlight!
